Here's an interesting article that I thought I would some of you would enjoyHeavy Pot Use Lowers IQ
Negative Effect Not Seen with Light Marijuana Use
By Jennifer Warner
April 2, 2002 -- Smoking five or more marijuana joints a week can make you feel stupid -- really. A new study shows heavy marijuana use can actually lower your IQ (intelligence quotient).
Researchers say it's one of the first studies to look at the long-term effects of marijuana on intelligence. Although the immediate, mind-numbing effects of marijuana are well known, it's been difficult to study the long-term effects on users because researchers often don't have a starting point before marijuana use began on which to base their measurements.
In this study, which appears in the April 2 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers compared the IQ scores of 70 participants before they started smoking pot (aged 9-12) with their current scores at age 17-20. Among heavy users who currently smoked more than five joints a week, IQ scores dropped by an average of 4.1 points.
Researchers say that drop might seem minor, but it's about the same degree of IQ reduction found among children who were exposed to an average of three drinks a day in the womb. And it's more than the decline found in children exposed to cocaine in the womb or to low levels of lead as infants.
But among light users (fewer than five joints a week), researchers found gains in IQ scores of about 5.8 points. Former users and non-users also had slight increases in their scores -- of 3.5 and 2.6, respectively.
The study authors say these finding have several limitations and should be interpreted with caution. The size of the study was small and did not look at the length of marijuana use. The young age of the participants may have also tempered some of the potential long-term effects of the drug.
Researchers say that marijuana has grown in popularity among youth in the last four years, so more study is needed to fully understand the consequences of both current and previous marijuana use.
© 2002 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.
Negative Effect Not Seen with Light Marijuana Use
By Jennifer Warner
April 2, 2002 -- Smoking five or more marijuana joints a week can make you feel stupid -- really. A new study shows heavy marijuana use can actually lower your IQ (intelligence quotient).
Researchers say it's one of the first studies to look at the long-term effects of marijuana on intelligence. Although the immediate, mind-numbing effects of marijuana are well known, it's been difficult to study the long-term effects on users because researchers often don't have a starting point before marijuana use began on which to base their measurements.
In this study, which appears in the April 2 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers compared the IQ scores of 70 participants before they started smoking pot (aged 9-12) with their current scores at age 17-20. Among heavy users who currently smoked more than five joints a week, IQ scores dropped by an average of 4.1 points.
Researchers say that drop might seem minor, but it's about the same degree of IQ reduction found among children who were exposed to an average of three drinks a day in the womb. And it's more than the decline found in children exposed to cocaine in the womb or to low levels of lead as infants.
But among light users (fewer than five joints a week), researchers found gains in IQ scores of about 5.8 points. Former users and non-users also had slight increases in their scores -- of 3.5 and 2.6, respectively.
The study authors say these finding have several limitations and should be interpreted with caution. The size of the study was small and did not look at the length of marijuana use. The young age of the participants may have also tempered some of the potential long-term effects of the drug.
Researchers say that marijuana has grown in popularity among youth in the last four years, so more study is needed to fully understand the consequences of both current and previous marijuana use.
© 2002 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.
